Speak­er John Boehner at­temp­ted Thursday morn­ing to sell House Re­pub­lic­ans on a debt-ceil­ing plan that would delay the im­ple­ment­a­tion of Obama­care, jump­start the Key­stone Pipeline, and in­tro­duce oth­er con­ser­vat­ive re­forms in hopes of unit­ing the GOP con­fer­ence ahead of tough votes on the con­tinu­ing res­ol­u­tion and debt-ceil­ing.

But re­ac­tion from mem­bers was mixed, at best.

“We shouldn’t even be talk­ing about the debt-ceil­ing un­til we get [the Sen­ate] to vote on a good CR for Amer­ica,” fumed Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who plans to vote against the debt-ceil­ing bill when it hits the floor, which could hap­pen as soon as Fri­day.

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama said he was un­de­cided on the debt-lim­it pack­age, even though “it def­in­itely has a lot of good­ies in it.” Brooks ad­ded: “It does not cut spend­ing and does not solve the prob­lem.”

Asked if it could pass the House, Brooks replied, “In my judg­ment, no.”

Oth­ers Re­pub­lic­ans, though, were more op­tim­ist­ic. Rep. Tom Price of Geor­gia, who has been work­ing with lead­er­ship to craft a com­pre­hens­ive strategy to deal with the CR and debt-ceil­ing fights, said mem­bers seemed sat­is­fied that Boehner’s pro­pos­al meets the cri­ter­ia they have long de­man­ded for a debt-ceil­ing in­crease.

“It meets the Boehner Rule — any in­crease is met by dol­lar-for-dol­lar de­crease in spend­ing as well as re­forms,” Price said. “It will delay Obama­care for a year. … And it keeps the House mov­ing in a dir­ec­tion where the Sen­ate has to re­spond, which is im­port­ant.”

But does it have enough sup­port to pass the House? “I think so, yeah,” Price said.

Rep. Kev­in Brady of Texas agreed, say­ing con­ser­vat­ives should rally be­hind the Boehner plan. “We should be uni­fied in bring­ing this debt-ceil­ing pro­pos­al out of the House,” said Brady, not­ing that the pack­age in­cludes “very strong, pro-growth policies that will help re­duce the de­fi­cit.”

Brady said of a po­ten­tial floor vote Fri­day: “There should be more than 218.”

The pro­spect of a quick floor vote, however, did not sit well with un­de­cided Re­pub­lic­ans like Rep. Jim Briden­stine of Ok­lahoma. “I’m look­ing for­ward to see­ing what lead­er­ship puts on the table,” he said. “I think there’s a lot more to be dis­cussed.”

Rep. Randy Weber of Texas agreed: “I have de­cided not take a po­s­i­tion as of yet,” he said. “I want to hear more.”

Mean­while, con­ser­vat­ive lead­ers wouldn’t bite when asked wheth­er the debt-ceil­ing pro­pos­al has the votes to pass.

“You must con­fuse me with the whip,” said a smil­ing Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas. Pressed to ana­lyze the sup­port with­in his con­fer­ence for Boehner’s plan, Hensarling re­peated three times: “I ex­pect Re­pub­lic­ans to be united.”

Even Rep. Steve Scal­ise, chair­man of the Re­pub­lic­an Study Com­mit­tee, seemed un­cer­tain of wheth­er Boehner’s present­a­tion had won over a suf­fi­cient num­ber of con­ser­vat­ives. “We’re go­ing to find out,” he said. “You’ll have to ask the whip.”

"Chuck Rosenberg, the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Agency who has found himself and his agency at odds with the Trump administration in recent months, told staff members Tuesday that he is planning to step down from his post." The Obama administration holdover will step down on October 1.

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HAD BEGUN TO PUBLICLY CRITICIZE TRUMP

Sen. Corker to Retire

1 hours ago

THE DETAILS

Another Republican member of Congress is showing himself out the door. After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” said Sen. Bob Corker in a statement. The Tennessean has served since 2006.

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NOT ILLEGAL, BUT MUST BE FORWARDED TO WORK ACCOUNTS

At Least 6 WH Advisors Used Private Email Accounts

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

Jared Kushner, Stephen Bannon, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller, and Ivanka Trump sent or received some emails on personal accounts that related to White House business. "Officials are supposed to use government emails for their official duties so their conversations are available to the public and those conducting oversight. But it is not illegal for White House officials to use private email accounts as long as they forward work-related messages to their work accounts so they can be preserved."

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SAYS CONTACTS WERE “BENIGN”

Stone Releases Correspondence with Guccifer 2.0

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser to Donald Trump, released correspondence Tuesday" with the online hacker known as Guccifer 2.0 , which "U.S. intelligence agencies said was used by Russian government-linked entities to distribute embarrassing information about Democrats during the 2016 election. The disclosures came in a 47-page opening statement made available to reporters in advance of Mr. Stone’s Tuesday appearance in front of the House Intelligence Committee." Stone called his contacts with Guccifer "limited" and "benign."

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PRIEBUS, SPICER, HICKS, MCGAHAN

Mueller Could Start Interviewing White House Figures This Week

1 hours ago

THE LATEST

"Special counsel investigators could start interviewing current and former White House staff as soon as later this week regarding the Russian probe, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN. One source cautioned it is still being worked out with Robert Mueller's office and said it might be delayed until next week." Among those who could have a sit-down with the special prosecutor: former chief of staff Reince Priebus, former press secretary Sean Spicer, communications director Hope Hicks, White House counsel Don McGahn, communications adviser Josh Raffel and associate counsel James Burnham.